William Fowler is the author of a number of books dealing with American history including: Under Two Flags: The Navy in the Civil War; Silas Talbot Captain of the Old Ironsides; co author America and The Sea; William Ellery: A Rhode Island Politico and Lord of Admiralty; Rebels Under Sail: The Navy in the Revolution; Jack Tars and Commodores: The American Navy, 1783-1815; Samuel Adams: Radical Puritan; Empires at War: The French and Indian War and The Struggle for North America, 1754-1763.

Professor Fowler has taught courses dealing with: the History of Boston, Maritime History, and the History of New England. He is the Gay Hart Gaines Distguished Fellow in American History at Mount Vernon. He also teaches at Mystic Seaport Museum and has lectured at the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Naval War College, and the Sea Education Association. He is a trustee of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Association, The Paul Revere Memorial Association, The Rhode Island Historical Society, and the Old North Church Foundation. He is a member of the Massachusetts State Archives Advisory Commission and an honorary member of the Boston Marine Society, as well as a Consulting Editor to The New England Quarterly.